Category: Film

Mutants take center stage this weekend, and Mandy Moore plays a marriage counselor trying to prevent her parents from divorcing. There’s a couple documentaries thrown into the mix, and that god awful Lion of Judah gets either a wider release or an official one. Jean-Luc Godard’s subtitle-less piece gets play on one screen and Submarine attempts to quirk us all to death.

Are you going to see anything this weekend? Do any of these films look particularly interesting? Do you agree or disagree with any of my sentiments? Let your thoughts be known by commenting below!

When I heard the premise for The Beaver a couple years ago, back when the script was at the top of The Black List (a list of the hottest un-produced screenplays floating around Hollywood) I thought “this sounds hilarious!” Fast forward to a few months ago when the trailer drops, and I thought “this looks awful!” When you hear that the movie is about a depressed guy who finds a beaver puppet and starts to talk through it, you think it’s going to have some kind of quirky indie sensibility in the vein of films like Little Miss Sunshine. Actually, The Beaver is a drama first, and a comedy second, and it handles the “gimmick” seriously, with surprisingly good results.

The Todd Phillips crowd gets a second helping of..whatever, and the kiddies get a sequel to a pretty decent CG-animated film. But the biggest release this weekend (and for me) is The Tree of Life. Just give that trailer a gander and you’ll see why I’m excited to see it.

What say you? Are you checking out any new films this weekend? Are you going to see anything that came out last week? I’m kind of curious to see what others thought about Midnight in Paris or if anyone else got to see Went the Day Well? Basically, I want to hear from you!

As I said in my review of Fast Five, sometimes it’s okay for a movie to be light-hearted and fun. Pirates 4 is another example of one of those movies. While it does involve one plot-line that touches on a few interesting themes, the movie as a whole makes no effort to be overly dramatic or thematic. It revels in its fun and has a great energy and pace to it.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides stars Johnny Depp as the infamous Captain Jack Sparrow on a quest to find the fountain of youth. But as we know from the past three films, nothing is ever easy with Jack Sparrow. Also en route to the fountain are the Spanish, Blackbeard (Ian McShane), and the now-privateer Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush). And since it wouldn’t be a Pirates movie without a saucy young lady, an old flame of Sparrow’s, played by Penélope Cruz, also gets involved (who, by the way, is still sexy wearing a fake moustache).

You’ve got some Pirates this weekend and Woody Allen if you’re lucky. The rest are pretty much rental fodder if they’re even your thing. What say you? Anything look good this weekend? Sound off in the comments!

This weekend there are a bunch of interesting documentaries playing in one to two screens. Oh, yeah…and then there’s the Bridesmaids and Priest. If ever there were a weekend to save your gas money and enjoy a rental, this would be the one. If you plan on seeing any of these films this weekend we’d love to hear from you, though. Sound off in the comments about whether or not my diagnosis on Bridesmaids was faulty or if there is some good to be had in Priest.

If I was forced to describe Thor in one word, it would be: Tonal Mess. That is not to say it doesn’t have good things about it, it just means that they don’t work well together. Thor as a whole is less than the sum of its parts.

Thor tells the story of Thor (Chris Hemsworth), the future King of Asgard, who is an arrogant warmongering brat who defies the King/his father (Anthony Hopkins) and gets banished to Earth, while also losing the ability to use the mighty Mjolnir, the hammer which gives him his powers. Meanwhile in Asgard, Loki is planning his ascent to the throne and starts a whole lot of trouble. Review with spoilers after the jump.

One of the big Marvel releases for the summer is out this weekend, and Rutger Hauer shoots everyone to bloody death. There’s also a dumb romantic comedy and a slew of limited releases that might actually be worth checking out. There’s pretty much something for everyone this weekend, so get your ass out to the local cineplex and watch some films! And then come back here when you’re done and tell us what you thought of the film. Or just tell us what you think now and don’t go see anything. I’m pretty flexible here, people!

Sometimes when you go to see a movie you walk into the theater expecting an emotionally touching plot, snappy intelligent dialogue, and one or two tour de force performances. And sometimes you go to have fun. Fast five definitely qualifies as the latter. Some of you might say “but movies are supposed to be good, not fun” and I would reply “stop being so pretentious and learn to enjoy life.” Fast Five doesn’t try to be high art, it tries to be a car-focused balls-to-the-wall thrill-ride heist action film, and it succeeds entirely. Review with spoilers after the jump.

Fast Five follows the actions of three federal fugitives (Diesel, Walker, Brewster) as they attempt to establish a life in Rio de Janeiro, only to immediately get roped into a visually impressive car heist and become entangled with the most powerful criminal mastermind in Brazil, all while being tracked by “the guy the FBI hires when they want people found (Johnson).” To get their way out of trouble they bring back most of the characters from the past four films, cashing in on the viewer’s nostalgia, to plan “one last job.”Continue reading “Review of Fast Five”

This is an odd weekend for film as there’s not a whole lot out and the quality varies dramatically. You’ve got the fifth installment of the Fast series, as well as a comic book adaptation that looks questionable at best. Werner Herzog’s 3D masterpiece debuts this weekend and proves that 3D can be done well. 13 Assassins is also out in limited release and it’s probably the best one you could possibly see. Planning on seeing anything this weekend? If so, let us know in the comments. Would love to get some discussion on these films!